Shoe sole



A; D. LEVINE ETAL SHOE SOLE led May '7, 1943 Dec. 2 6, 1944.

forepart of the sole.

the tread surface of Patented Dec. 26, 1944 UNITED sTATEsrATENT OFFICE.

Alfred D. Levine,

Brookline, and Alex Bosnian, Revere, Mass.

Application May '7, 1943, Serial No. 486,028 e Claims. (01. 36-31) Thisinvention consists in a composite'outsole of new and improvedconstruction and in a shoe or sandal including such improvedsole in itsstructure.

An object of th invention is to provide a flexible light-weight,wear-resistant outsole which may be constructed of materials availableto the shoe manufacturer under wartime conditions. This we have beenable to accomplish and at the same time provide an outsole of individualand attractive appearance. Our novel construction also permits us toutilize with good advantage the available rationed amount of rubber orrubber-like material as toe and heel inserts in our novel sole and thusto dispose the available rubber where it will have the best effect incushioning this shoe and providing a nonslipping treated surface. I

We have discovered that a sole body of fibre or sole board may bereinforced to a remarkable degree by wrapping with a heavy woven fabricand cementing the fabric securely to the outer or tread face and edgesof the sole body with the margins of the fabric brought over andcemented to the inner to say, the face concealed into the finished shoe.We thusprovide the-shank and forepart of the sole with a continuouswearing surfac of woven fabric. Preferably this may be a closely wovencord or string fabric, treated to render it waterproof or waterresistant wear-resistant to a high degree.

A further feature of th invention consists in binding the transverseedges of the woven fabric reinforcing piece before it is wrapped aboutthe sole piece in a manner above described. In

the appearance of the product, prevent ravelmg of the woven fabric, andfacilitate repairs, since we are thus enabled to remove the toe and heelinserts for replacement without in any way disturbing or raveling thereinforcing fabric.

As another feature we provide at the toe and heel ends of each sole, orat either of them, an insert of sheet rubber or the like which is formedwith a bevel inner edge that may overlap upon the woven fabric wrappedabout the shank and The body of each insert is substantially thethickness of the fabric so that the composit sole lies substantially ina single plane, the body of each insert compensating for the thicknessof the woven fabric beyond the bound edges thereof.

The sole body may extend throughout the shank and forepart of the soleor may be of full length and shouldered at each end adjacent face .ofthe sole, that is and stout, tough and woven reinforcing base partiallyto the inner edge of the inserts thus providing a shank and forepart ofslightly reduced width as compared to th remainder of the sole body. Thewoven fabric which is wrapped about this intermediate portion of thesole follows out the outline of the sole making it smooth andcontinuous. The inserts are herein shown as limited in length tosubstantially the unreduced portion of the sole body and so shaped thattheir outlines blend smoothly into the outline of the edges of the wovenfabric.

As another feature of our improved sole we propose to cement to itsinner surface of the sole body a textile layer of cloth. The marginaledges of the reinforcing woven fabric are brought overland cemented tothis cloth facing and these margins together with the uncovered portionof the cloth facing between them and at both ends of the sole affordparticularly good bonding surface when the outsole is cemented in placein the shoe bottom.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in theaccompanying drawing in which- Fig. 1 is a View in side elevation of thecompleted shoe,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the sole body,

Fig. 3 is a corresponding view showing the wrapped about the sole body,

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the completed sole shown with its tread faceuppermost, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4 on asubstantially enlarged scale.

Th composite outsole of our invention includes in its structure an innersole body which may be constructed of any suitable sheet material suchas paper board, insole board, fibre board or the like. It is desirablethat this should be toughand flexible although it need not in itselfpossess great tensile strength since this is supplied by areinforcingfabric. The inner sole body may be died out in the exact shape in theexact shape in which it is to be used in the composite sole, and whileit is shown herein as being or full sole length it would be within thescope of the invention to employ a shorter sole body including not morethan the shank and forepart of the sole. We prefer however, to use afull length sole body, and in Fig. 2 we have shown such a body It) asdied out and ready for use. Preferably and as herein shown the solebodyis faced with a cloth ply l2 on its inner surface, that is to say,the surface which is concealed in the finished shoe. The facing l2 maybe united by cementing or otherwise to the sheet material from which thesole body is died out so that in the dieing out operation the completefaced sole body is produced at a single operation.

Where a full length sole body I is employed we prefer to set off thereina shank and forepart area of slightly reduced width by means ofshoulders I 4 adjacent the heel end of the blank and shoulders l6adjacent the toe end of the blank. The intermediate area defined bythese two pairs of shoulders we then reinforce by wrappingabout it apiece of heavy woven textile fabric l8- as shown in Fig. 3. This fabricmay be closely woven of cords or strings and then't-reatedso that it isrendered waterproof or water resistant. The closely woven fabric of thischaracter is wear resistant to a-high degree and has high tensilestrength so that the reinforced sole hasample strength to withstand thestrains of-shoe making operationsand to'gi-ve the shoe-a satisfactorywearing life.

Each rein-forcing; piece I8 is cut to'length corresponding to theshouldered portion of the sole body with sufficient allowance so that itmay be doubled about the edges of the sole body-and have itslongitudinal edges cemented to the cloth faced surface of the sole."Ourreinforcing piece i8 is preferably, though not necessarily, providedwith a textile binding strip or tape 20 on;each end,--this binding being:doubled over the front and rear transverse edges of the reinforcingpiece andstitched in place. The binding strip 20 not only imparts a'fin-ishedeappearanceto the edge of the reinforcing piece where it isexposed in the'shoe, but prevents ravel-ing in use and .also when thesole is in process of repair.

The reinforcing piece I8 is wrapped smoothly around the tread surface ofthe sole: body I 0, doubled over its longitudinal edges, andthencemented along the shank and As shown in Fig. 3 the margin of thereinforcing piece has been cemented in place along: the outsideshankedgeof the sole whilea-long theinside shank the margin stillremains in condition preparatory to being trimmed and foldedupon thecemented area 22 onthe facing 1.2 .ofotheisole body. The folded andcemented; margins ofthe reinforcing piece are ordinarily spaced fromcachotherandif necessary the reinforcingpieces may be trim-med so that thecemented marginpwill be of the desired width. In some cases; :it is desirable to supply a filler between; these. cemented edges incompletingthe shoe in order to .main-- tain the bottom in fiatcondition, :but that :depends upon the thickness of the reinforcing fab-H0.

The sole is completed in. the formherein illustrated by supplying a:hee1,..-insert;' 24. and a toe insert 26 of rubber or rubber-like.material in such a manneiias to fill out and complete .the tread surfaceof. thesole. :-Each..:f,.theseinserts is beveled upon itsstraight.transverse edge so that it may overlap the. edge ofsthe woven,reinforcingfabric Ill-where} it: crosses the .sole body. This is showninudetail, in the. enlarged section of Fig. where it wi1l-,be;.-seenthat the. straight transverse edgezof. the toeinsertlficis ndercut the:forward .edge ofithe. rcinfomm fabric ,piece l8 and its binding:striplll. .-The "insert; issecured place. bybeing-cemented: to: theouter forepart margins.

'70 to-forln a bevel-that extends;rearvvardIyover ,-.a stout five cordthread.

face of the sole body and by being stitched by a stitch line 28 whichpasses through the rear beveled edge of the insert, the sole body It],the cloth facing l2, and the doubled margin of the reinforcing fabric[8. The heel insert 24 is similarly shaped and may be similarly securedin the organization of the composite sole. stitch line 28 may be formedby any machine suitable for flat ,worksuch asa lock-stitch machine or a?harness stitch machine such as No. 45K Singer, and for the stitch weprefer to use The inserts 24 and 25 are wider than the reducedintermediate portion of the sole body, being shaped to register with thecurvature -.of its wider toe and heel ends or to -supplement the area ofthe sole body in case it is of less than full sole length.

The'dimensions of the various parts are such that. the. doubled marginof the reinforcing fabric l8 increases the width of the reducedintermediate portionof the sole body :just sufficiently to-bring itsmoothly into the-general outline of the toeand heel portions of thesole body and of the toe and heel inserts 24 and 28. The soletherefore-has. asmooth continuous contourso thatit may be-handledconveniently in stock fitting -0rothershoe making machinery. Thethickness of the inserts is selected-with reference to the thickness ofthe reinforcing I fabric with the result that the tread surface issubstantially flat. There-is as already stated, a valley between thecemented margin of the reinforcing fabric on'the innerfaced side-of thesole, but that is concealed in the finished shoe and-may be compensatedfor-*by a filler strip when necessary.

The composite sole of-our invention is shown in Fig; l as it is used ina shoeorsandal ofthe play type, the upper of the by fabric strips 30which are-lasted above a'midsole 32 of the platform type, supplementedby a wedge 34. The sole 32 and the undersurface of the wedge are-leveledin a.single plane and then the composite solejust described is cementedin place. We have found that the cloth facing f2 facilitates thiscementing operation and the formation of asecure and reliable bondin-the shoebottom. Ibis-understood, of course, that our composite insoleisnot limited in its play type of shoe, but may be employed ;inshoes orsandals of 'any'appropriate type.

An important-advantage of our-composite sole is that when either the toeor heel insert becomes shoe bottom and replaced by a new insert withoutin any way disturbing the inner sole body or the reinforcing'fabricwhich is protected during the removal of the insert by its bindingstrips-20.

While we have referred to the toe and heel inserts as specifi cally'formed of rubber or rubmaterial, our invention is not limited in this.respect and we contemplate employin inserts of leather or hard fibre orsynthetic compositionsuitable from the requiremen s of h solesineachinstance.

Having thus disclosed our invention and describedcertain specificembodiments thereof, .we claim ,as newrand .desireto secure by, LettersPaten r .11.. A;.C0mp,osite ,outsole, unit havingan integral solehodvoisheet fibre boardextending throughout; .itsgsihank ,and rampa t,.aheavy pi e of wovenzfabric bound ,at-both .end .edges. and wrapped;transversel about said .sole body with its: ;;margins.cementedr s acedrelation. to n the V versely adjacent to its toe and heel ends, therebyproviding a narrow intermediate portion, a heavy woven fabric wrappedabout and cemented to the said narrow portion of the body and edges ofthe sole between said shoulders with margins overlapping and cemented tothe inner face of the sole, and solid inserts extending in flush outlineabout the toe and heel ends of the sole body with their inner edgesbeveled and overlapping the transverse edges of said woven fabric.

3. An outsole for leather-or fabric shoes comprising a full length solebody of fibre board shouldered in its periphery adjacent to both endsand thereby presenting an intermediate portion I of reduced width, athick, heavy water resistant woven fabric wrapped about and cemented tothe outer surface and edges of said intermediate portion with itsmargins cemented to the inner face of the sole body, said fabric fillingthe edge spaces between the shoulders of the sole body and presenting asmooth outline with the end portions thereof, and beveled inserts ofrubberized material secured to the ends of the sole body in overlappingrelation to the ends of the woven fabric.

4. An outsole for leather or fabric shoes comprising a full length solebody of paper board having a cloth facing as its inner face, a substantiall water-proof woven fabric-terminating short of both ends of thesole in bound transverse edges, wrapped and cemented about the treadface and edges thereof with margins overlapping and cemented to theinner cloth-covered face of the sole, and rubber sections forming thetoe and heel ends of the sole and having beveled edges overlapping thetransverse edges of the woven fabric, and lines of stitching passingthrough the beveled edges of the rubber sections and the solebody, theperipheral edges of the said sections forming in the sole a smoothunbroken outline with the wrapped edges of the woven fabric. 1

5. A composite outsole unit having an inner body of paper boardextending throughout the 1 shank and forepart of the sole, a heavy wovenfabric co-extensive in length with the shank and forepart of the soleand doubled over the side edges of said inner body with its longitudinalmargins cemented to the inner face thereof, and

toe and heel inserts of rubber-like material united by stitching to thesole body and also to the ends of the woven fabric and shaped to presentin the sole a smooth continuous outline with the doubled edges of saidwoven fabric.

6. A composite outsole unit having a body of paper board having a clothfacing on one side and extending throughout the shank and forepart ofthe sole, a woven fabric reinforcing piece of substantial thicknessdoubled over the side edges of said body with its longitudinal marginscemented to the cloth-faced side of the sole body, bindin stripsenclosing the transverse edges of said reinforcing piece and rubber-likeinserts beveled and overlapping the bound edges of the reinforcing pieceand wider thansaid sole body whereby they form a smooth continuousoutline with the doubled edges of said reinforcing piece.

ALFRED D. LEVINE.

ALEX BOSMAN.

